PS
How much could you possibly not know about Bugatti? VAG has stated MANY times they don't expect to turn a profit. Do you honestly expect to think they even expected to turn a profit on the EB110?
Many people praise the Bugatti, and it was even considered "...cutting-edge art." It's also been refered to as a "tour-de-force supercar in the ultimate sense of the word" and has been heralded as a true Italian masterpiece. Plus, you should be comparing this thing to a Ferarri F40, not a Maserati. Plus, it has four catylitic converters for California.
I know that VAG doesn't expect to turn a profit from it... considering that Bugatti was in a right muddle before the current project director took over, no one would.
It's just that Bugatti isn't a good business proposition, and I do give props to VW for having the courage and generosity to keep Bugatti in the fold. If the Veyron never gets built, the automotive world would be much poorer for it.
But during the EB110 era, they spent a ridiculous amount of money, going so far as to building a huge (and sadly now derelict) factory for it. They'd expected to go on making cars forever (foolishly), without thought to how they'd finance everything. The Bugatti of that era was a classic case of how NOT to run a supercar business. McLaren didn't make a profit off the F1, either, but they didn't put themselves into receivership over it. They also didn't make wild claims about their car's performance, they let other people discover that for themselves.
Some days and from some angles, I like the EB110, others, I wonder how they could have left such flaws in the design. The prototypes looked much better, if unfortunately a little too much like Lamborghini. The EB110 was still a great car under the skin.
Pagani is a good example of how to build a supercar. Make sure you have good backing first, don't spend too much money re-inventing the wheel, buy parts off-the-shelf if they're good enough, and don't promise ANYTHING until you deliver.
The new Bugatti has to prove it can deliver the goods (as in: SELL and SHIP) before it can be seriously considered a contender in the supercar market.
Maserati doesn't make supercars. The MC12 doesn't count, as that's mostly an Enzo with a lot of tweaks. I pick Maserati merely because they make road cars, and lots of them, compared to Bugatti. It's the same way you'd pick Ferrari over Lamborghini... as with Ferrari, there's something for everyone (though the new Lambo Gallardo is a decent stab at Ferrari's entry-level market), and these cars are built with a certain passion... NOT as overhyped stabs at outrageous engineering targets.
